intense cold blows into the u.s. along with record snowfall and thunderstorms for most of the country. gasoline almost half a buck cheaper and going lower as president obama and boehner meet face to face to go over the looming fiscal cliff. the latest on the death of a nurse. a handcuffed manakes off with a police cruiser. and could hillary clinton be presented with an offer she can't refuse? "early today" starts right now. this is "early today" for monday, december 10, 2012. hey there, good morning to you. i'm veronica de la cruz. right now residents in the

midwest are waking up to the heaviest snow in months. highway closures and around 150 flight cancelations and delays at minneapolis, st. paul's airport, this morning. bill karins tracking the weather. what does it look like now? >> old man winter crashed the party this weekend. without a doubt. we were off to a warm period of weather throughout the country. now all the cold air up in canada and alaska has rushed to the south behind the storm. most of the snow was over with. light stuff and flurries minneapolis, green bay, light snow left for you. but the big story is the cold air that's behind this. if you're shoveling or snowplowing, it's miserable. the storm is heading east. instead of going due east or redeveloping off the coast, it's heading to quebec. it's dragging warm air up the eastern seaboard. it's only extreme northern portions of vermont, new hampshire, and all of the state of maine that we have to deal with ice and snow during the

morning. i think maine especially around augusta, i-95, you'll have to deal with the possibility of a lot of sleet, too, mixed in. rain further to the south. we had strong thunderstorms along this front yesterday through the midwest. now we just got showers in pittsburgh southward. there are thunderstorms this morning down here. northern mississippi, northern alabama, across the heart of tennessee. that's where you'll get downpours on this front. even further south through louisiana and heading out of texas, just outside of houston, we've got thunderstorms, and now this has to slide through. veronica, there's still rough weather. not as bad as yesterday, but everyone on the east coast, get ready for the cold air, you're next. >> be careful on the roads. >> yeah. midwest -- middle of winter. >> a mess? all right, thanks, bill. while getting around on some of the snow-covered roads might be treacherous, at least drivers are getting a break on prices at the pump. according to the lundberg survey, the average in price for regular gas has dropped by ten cents over the past three weeks to $3.38 a gallon, which is 46

cents less than two months ago. the survey finds prices are expected to keep falling as refiners cut how much they are charging distributors and retailers. president obama and house speaker john boehner are keeping mum on their face-to-face negotiations at the white house sunday as they try to avoid the fiscal cliff. as the clock ticks down, it appears some republicans may be softening their stance. brian mooar with the latest on this story. >> reporter: president obama and house speaker john boehner were behind closed doors trying to break the tax and spending stalemate that threatens to take the country over the fiscal cliff in just over three weeks. meanwhile, one by one republicans are bowing to the president's demand that taxes go up for the wealthy. >> will i accept a tax increase as a part of a deal to actually solve our problems? yes. >> we don't have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before year end. i mean, we have one house, that's it. the presidency and the senate in

the democrats' hands. >> since we agree with democrats, 98% of the american people and 80% of the bush tax cuts, to me i would get that off the table so they don't worry about it. >> reporter: democrats insist taxes are going up on the rich no matter what. >> if you don't increase tax rates on the highest 2% of income earners, you cannot generate enough revenue to have meaningful deficit reduction. >> reporter: republicans want big spending cuts to programs like medicare and says. >> we don't want to be back here in another year, another ten years answering the same questions. >> reporter: as the talks continue on both sides of pennsylvania avenue, americans from main street to wall street wait to see who will blink first. brian mooar, nbc news, washington. sad news it tell you about out of afghanistan where a u.s. navy s.e.a.l. was killed during the rescue operation of a colorado doctor. the s.e.a.l. team 6 member was killed while working to rescue

dr. joseph, who worked for a christian nonprofit group. u.s. officials believed the doctor's life was in danger. president obama said the fallen special forces member whose name has not been released "gave his life for his fellow americans." latin music fans mourning the tragic death of mexican american singer jenni rivera. the 43-year-old grammy nominee and six others died early sunday when their small plane crashed in rough terrain in northern mexico. rivera performed a concert in the northern city of monterrey hours before the plane took off. the learjet reportedly lost contact with air traffic controllers shortly after takeoff. the cause is under investigation. jenni rivera's brother tells e news the family is devastated. dallas cowboys' defensive lineman josh brent is out of jail on bond of half a million dollars after the death of teammate jerry brown. brent was freed yesterday after

been charged with intoxication manslaughter in a vehicle accident saturday. brent had a previous drunk driving arrest and faces up to 20 years in prison on this new charge. let's get back to the weather and nbc meteorologist bill karins with the forecast. you are saying the snow is over, now rain? >> rain for the east coast. then the cold air will rush in. it's just -- we knew it was going to happen. >> great. good stuff. >> it was a matter of time. this is a pretty big storm, significant storm. this is one of those storms that changes the weather pattern for the winter. and now you wonder if the cold air is locked in place in the midwest and here to stay. so the storm itself is exiting, heading up toward buffalo. it will head up montreal to canada during the day. because of that storm pass, it's actually dragging warm up up the eastern seaboard. enjoy it while it lasts. we could see 60s as far north as boston today. behind this, i mean, these windchills are brutal right now. everywhere in white is in the negative numbers. i mean, we're talking about a good chunk of the country with just very, very low and

dangerous windchills this morning. so use precautions for yourself and the kids. for the eastern seaboard, it is going to be wet and windy, causing airport delays almost guaranteed. that's your national forecast. here's a look at the weather outside your window. those temperatures not a misprint. we could even see a few showers, maybe even with a few lightning strikes. kind of small thunderstorms, even as far north as philadelphia today. for the most part, the best chance of any strong thunderstorms will be in the southeast. the good news is after the storm goes by, there's no big storms right behind it. we get a break even in the midwest. >> good. and temperatures in the 60s today. not bad. >> for one day. >> i know. coming up, new details surrounding the death of one of the nurses where kate stayed in the hospital. plus, the quote of the year from president obama and governor mitt romney. can you guess what they are?

good morning and welcome back. here are some stories making

news this morning -- two australian radio announcers who made the prank call to a british hospital treating prince william's pregnant wife kate broke their silence today to speak of their distress at the apparent suicide of the nurse who took their phone call. they said they were shattered and heartbroken at the tragedy. in washington state, same-sex couples started having weddings yesterday on the first day the new gay marriage law took effect. secretary of state hillary clinton has a stomach virus which will delay by one day her trip to morocco for a meeting on the future of syria's opposition. some saying clinton would be nearly impossible to beat if she ran for president. and strategist james carville said 90% of democrats want her to run in 2016. a petition on the white house web site calls for congress and the president to forfeit their pay and health care benefits until the fiscal cliff is resolved. the petition has gotten more than 11,000 signatures. but 25,000 are needed to get a

white house response. a yale professor compiled the list of the best political quotes of the year. he has mitt romney's comments on the 47% as number one. number two was -- can you guess -- binders full of women. yep. president obama got the third spot with his "he didn't build that." and a monkey wearing a wool coat and a diaper shocked shoppers at an ikea store in toronto. the animal escaped from a car, and its owner is facing charge for having an animal banned by canadian law. he's so cute, isn't he? stocks kick off the week with the dow at 13,155 after climbing 81 points friday. the s&p up four, and the nasdaq fell 11. overseas, the nikkei gained six points while the hang seng climbed 85. wall street is watching for any new fiscal cliff developments. the folks at fedex will be hustling and bustling on their busiest day of the year. the shipping giant expects to

make about 19 million deliveries. that's thanks to this year's double digit growth in online shopping. and there will be more package to ship as shoppers snap of green monday deals. the second monday in december has gained traction on line over the past several years. if you are flying home for the holidays, you better book soon. one consumer group warns air fare goes up $10 a day after the second week of december. and after the 19th, forget about it. if you want to save big, fly on christmas or new year's day. those are the cheapest to do so. investors serious about getting a piece of the hostess pie must submit formal commitments by today in order to become eligible buyers. also today, u.s. and u.k. regulators will unveil the first concrete steps to end the problem of large international banks. on the deal front, aig announced it is selling the majority of its airplane leasing unit to a chinese noinvestor grp for $5.3 billion. our sister network, nbc sports,

is teaming up with yahoo! to share content on air and on line. "the new york times" reports that michael bloomberg is weighing a big for the financial times group. and it looks like christmas came earl at the vatican. pope benedict, the proud owner of two shiny, new custom-made mercedes pope mobiles. and what else, mother of pearl white. snazzy. what's with thieves these days? first dognappers steal puppies. then a guy in handcuffs escapes out back of a police cruiser and gets into the driver's seat and steals a police car. that's up next.

and some other stories making news across america for you this morning. we begin with a brazen car heist that looked like a scene from a movie. a texas police dash cam rolled as a handcuffed burglary suspect turned a police vehicle into his getaway car. the man easily escapes the back seat and gets behind the wheel. he floors it and then he vanishes. police are still on the hunt for this gay. texas police also searching for a pair of puppy thieves who raided a pet store. the men swiped eight puppies valued at more than $12,000. investigators believe the suspects will try to sell the dogs quickly to capitalize on the holiday shopping season.

a maryland homeowner literally saw armed robbers in action. but this is not your normal couple. the armed robbery was all caught on tape. the armed snatcher avoided the naughty list and police blotter by later returning frosty's appendages. thank goodness. finally, folks in the nation's capital showed the holiday season is in full swing. standing near the national tree and south of the white house, the national menorah was lit sunday to celebrate hanukkah. the jewish holiday also known as the eighth day -- eight-day festival, rather, of lights began at sundown on saturday night. in sports now, sunday night football right here on nbc. lions/packers with snow falling at green bay's lambeau field. detroit got out to the early lead. quarterback matthew stafford had trouble holding on to the slippery football. and the packers turned it into a touchdown. go, go, go, if, go. they went on to beat the lions 27-20. eli manning of the giants threw

for four touchdowns. david wilson ran for three. big blue pounded new orleans 53-27. in other action, washington quarterback robert griffin iii sprained his knee. the redskins beat baltimore on the overtime field goal, 31-28. in minneapolis, the vikings' adrian peterson had a touchdown and 154 yards rushing as he gets closer to 2,000 yards for the season in a 21-14 win over chicago. and louisville basketball coach rick pitino found out how hard it is to resist answering a cell phone, especially someone else's during a post-game news conference. [ ringing ] >> hold on one second. [ laughter ] >> hello? i'm doing great. how about yourself? [ laughter ] >> i'm just doing a press conference. [ laughter ] >> where would you like to meet for a drink? >> beautiful. that phone belonged to a sportscaster who was recording

the event until obviously it was interrupted by the ringing phone. well handled. the iconic piano used in the "cass branka" is for sale. would you buy it? and what were the most searched movies of 2012? lawmakers roll up their sleeves to help some of hurricane sandy's hardest hit victims. you're watching "early today."

welcome back to "early today." hope you had a wonderful weekend. the big storm that was in the midwest is heading east,

especially the northeast. the white on this map is snow over much of the state of maine. seeing rain in southern maine. icy stuff and sleet especially north of portland. be careful out there. a lot of areas in vermont and new hampshire improving after freezing rain and sleet last night. the windchills are brutal in the midwest from dallas northward. exceptionally cold this morning. and of course there's a lot of snow on the ground, too, in the northern plains. for the eastern seaboard, the bottom line is it's going to be warm. there will be storms and rain today. bring the umbrella. >> all right. thanks, bill. james bond made history again this weekend at the box office. "skyfall" won this weekend while becoming sony's highest grossing film of all time, taking in $918 million worldwide. the film is close to becoming the first-ever billion-dollar bond. not bad for a 50-year-old franchise. you've seen all of them, bill, right? >> no. >> i haven't seen one, embarrassed to say. the piano from "casablanca" will be going up on the auction block in new york 70 years after

the film's premiere. sotheby's says the piano could fetch over $1 million. noting the unique green and yellow color, something not seen in the black and white film. did you know that? >> should be in a museum somewhere. >> i agree. most people would expect "gangnam style" singer to stay out of the spotlight after his anti-american here ex-from 2004. most people would be wrong, though. as the rapper performed for the president of the united states at christmas in washington sunday. he released an apology for the here ex-saying, "i will be forever sorry." finally yark h-- finally, yahoo! released their most-searched movies of 2012. "the hunger games" came in number one. and comic book films in the two, three, and four spots. then "twilight: breaking down part two," rounding out the top five. i'm embarrassed to say i haven't seen any of those either. >> maybe you're not a comic book person? >> i just -- i don't have any time unfortunately.

you know, and then you know what kind of films i like. >> i know, the indy films. you have to support the young directors. producers. >> right. that's what i was thinking. now from wnbc in new york city, members of congress put aside washington politics. they picked up a broom over the weekend. representatives from new york, new jersey, north carolina, and georgia participated in hurricane cleanup efforts in staten island. congressman michael grim, austin scott, scott garrett, and congresswoman renee ellers helped gut and repair homes hit by superstorm sandy. great. congress has been requested $260 billion for aid. i'm veronica de la cruz. this is "early today," your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

>> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> good morning. we are starting out with some thick fog in some areas. take the time. the clouds will break it up later this morning. it will be pretty thick for the next few hours. a mixture of sun and clouds. a chance for some rain this afternoon. high temperature into the 60's.

we will check the seven-day forecast going all the way into the weekend. >> 48 degrees at the airport. the battle of the beltway goes washington's way. >> a police officer is shot try to break up a fight. >> president obama meets with the top republican from congress. i am tracie potts in washington with an update on the fiscal cliff. >> we will up the yo

[captioning made possible by constellation energy group] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- >> you're watching wbal-tv 11. live, local, late-breaking. this is 11 news today at 5:00 a.m. >> [cheers] >> [cheers]